ABSTRACT
The importance of water well rehabilitation is based upon the ability to recover a biofouled well to its original performance characteristics. Commonly, the loss in performance has been due to plugging events upstream of the well head and so the major concern in rehabilitation relates to the diagnosis of a microbially induced plugging so that an appropriate treatment can be employed to regain performance through rehabilitation. No water well treatment will effectively prevent some reccurrence of biofouling with the concurrent losses in water quality, production and increasing operational costs. Biofouling usually forms in a relatively consistent well environment even though the environment may change between active and passive states. Essentially the incumbent microbes adapt to the routine shifting in the environment that accompanies the routine cycling between active and passive states. Hygiene risk is generally considered an assessment that is independent of any plugging that might be occurring and relates more specifically to the presence of coliform bacteria.
